Doughnut Lovers, Rejoice! And Then Head to Bon Glaze

Nestled in a mixed-use development in Brookhaven you’ll find Bon Glaze, one of Atlanta’s newest doughnut shops. Upon entering the brightly colored shop you’ll immediately notice that these are not the doughnuts you grew up with. No Plain Jane doughnuts in sight – the Bon Glaze doughnuts are works of art and come in a variety of creative flavors. Orange Fanta glaze, anyone?

These are not your average, everyday doughnuts. Image: Bon Glaze

The magic of Bon Glaze didn’t happen overnight. Rather, it was the culmination of a dream shared by the founders, husband and wife team Kelly and Kenny Keith. The power couple spent their adult lives climbing the corporate ladder and pushing aside their goal of one day owning their own business. Doing the corporate thing had its perks, though, like moving the Keiths to different cities around the country. Each city they lived in or traveled to presented them with a new doughnut shop to try and further fanned the spark to open their own place. Their favorite among all of the different places they sampled was a walk-up counter in San Francisco, where they first tried a doughnut with bacon. When they decided to open a shop, doughnuts were having another moment in the sun, and it just seemed like the right time.

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It took a grueling year of product and taste testing to develop the flavors they have now. Keith says they drew inspiration from the different shops they visited, but their 10-year-old daughter, Brooke, was also a muse. The cotton candy flavor that everyone loves to post on Instagram was her brainchild. “When she first suggested the cotton candy flavor we thought oh that’s so cute, okay let’s go on to what we’re really going to offer. And then we said, ‘That might kind of catch on!’”

It’s now one of their most popular flavors.

There are plenty of options to choose from at Bon Glaze. Image: Bon Glaze

Now that Bon Glaze is in a groove, even the staff members get in on the flavor creation. Look out for their take on a margarita doughnut around Cinco de Mayo – a key lime base with a pipette of tequila-infused simple syrup.

Other flavor inspiration is found in their partnerships with local brands. This past fall they teamed up with Urban Tree Cidery to create a cider doughnut with the local cidery’s product. The doughnuts served a higher purpose, too, with proceeds going to Concrete Jungle, an Atlanta organization that forages urban produce for food banks and shelters.

Creating zany doughnut varieties isn’t for the faint of heart. The team at the Brookhaven shop begins working in the bakery around 11 p.m. in order to crank out enough doughnuts to supply the Brookhaven and Buckhead outposts. Even Keith will jump in to help with the baking when times are hectic.

Doughnuts with a side of bacon? What could be better?! Image: Lia Picard

More than just a doughnut shop, Bon Glaze has made a name for itself by offering its patrons bacon, which, if you ask most Southerners, is a pretty genius idea. While they were doughnut hunting around the country, Kenny and daughter Brooke would fetch the doughnuts while Kelly stayed home to make bacon. Bacon and doughnuts make for a delicious meal, and the Keiths kept that in mind when they opened their shop. “We essentially just do what we like to eat and hope that others do the same,” explains Kelly. Plain bacon wasn’t enough, though, so there’s also candied bacon and chocolate-covered bacon.

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So, does Kelly pick favorites among her doughnut creations? “It’s always changing,” she says, but she does particularly enjoy the salted caramel balsamic.

When you visit Bon Glaze, expect to find doughnut holes (known as “Bon Bons”), coffee roasted by local Marietta roaster Cool Beans, and doughnut breakfast sandwiches in addition to the beautiful doughnuts. You can also order special cutout doughnuts in the shape of letters or numbers in case you have any doughnut-worthy celebrations coming up (and be honest, what isn’t a doughnut-worthy celebration?).